FIL Development Committee Adds Three New Members

TORONTO, ONTARIO—The Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) has announced the addition of three new members to its Development Committee.

Jan Van Cauwenberge of Ghent, Belgium, Wendy Cuthbert of Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada, and Ya-Chen Sarah Lin, of Taipei, Taiwan, have all been appointed to the FIL Development Committee.

 

Bob DeMarco, FIL Development Committee Chair, was very pleased with the new committee appointees and the international perspectives they bring with them from Europe, North America and Asia. “Jan Van Cauwenberge’s officiating background and his administrative involvement with both the Belgium Lacrosse Federation and the European Lacrosse Federation will be an invaluable addition to the FIL’s Development Committee,” said Demarco.

DeMarco mentioned that Wendy Cuthbert, the developer of the Ontario Lacrosse Association’s High-Performance Program, brings knowledge and experience to the table. “Her expertise in the women’s indoor game will be a great help in developing and improving stick skills in younger players throughout the world.”

According to DeMarco, Sarah Lin, the Chairwoman for the Taiwan Lacrosse Association, offers a working knowledge of effectively organizing, administrating and marketing new lacrosse programs. “Sarah will be a tremendous resource to assist FIL’s present and future developing member countries.”

The combined lacrosse experience of these three new development committee members is impressive.

Jan Van Cauwenberge, Belgium

Cauwenberge has had a tremendous influence on the development of lacrosse in Belgium. His involvement began in 2009 where, in the course of one year, he played with the Red Rhinos, Belgium’s first lacrosse club, founded a club in his hometown of Ghent serving as its President and helped found the Belgian Lacrosse Federation (BLF). In 2012, Cauwenberge served as President and currently sits on the board of the BLF and has participated in the European Championships as a player and General Manager for Team Belgium. In 2014, Cauwenberge served as General Manager for Team Belgium at the FIL Men’s Lacrosse World Championship in Denver, Colorado, and was elected secretary of the European Lacrosse Federation (ELF), a position he still holds. Over this same time frame, Cauwenberge has worked to develop a career as a referee, working his way up the ranks to officiate at the recent 2016 European Championships in Budapest, Hungary and will be officiating at the 2018 FIL Men’s Lacrosse World Championship in Manchester, England.

Wendy Cuthbert, Canada

Cuthbert has extensive experience in lacrosse as a player and in numerous administrative and directorial positions at the community, regional, provincial and national levels in Canada. She has five years of indoor and six years of master’s indoor lacrosse playing experience. Cuthbert has worked as a member, director and served on the board of a community lacrosse association in Ontario, while also serving as a Zone Director at the regional level. Provincially, Cuthbert served as Chair of the Girls Box Lacrosse and Commissioner of the Senior Women’s Box Lacrosse Committees. She also worked for six years to administer an Ontario government direct-to-athlete funding program for elite, high-performance athletes. Cuthbert has been a member of the Canadian Lacrosse Association (CLA) Long-Term Athlete Development Committee and the CLA Female Box Lacrosse Committee. She developed and currently operates the high-performance Team Ontario Lacrosse program for the Ontario Lacrosse Association where she has also served for six years as its Vice-President of Development.

Sarah Lin, Taiwan

Lin, although not a lacrosse player herself, used a degree in Computer Science from Northern Illinois University and decade of experience in retail management to pave the way for lacrosse in Taiwan for her son, Scott Yang (Lin uses her maiden name and Scott uses Yang, his father’s surname). Lin, along with Chris Wei, co-founded the Taiwan Lacrosse Association (TWLA). Wei’s son, Cosmo, was a friend of Scott and shared an interest in lacrosse. Wei is currently the Executive Director of the TWLA. For the past two years, Lin has been overseeing the difficult task of introducing a foreign sport to Taiwan. That has not deterred Lin, however, as she has worked tirelessly to develop ten school lacrosse programs in Taipei, Taichung and Taitung at the junior high, high school and college levels. Her work has contributed to Taiwan’s participation in the 2015 and 2016 Hong Kong Open tournaments at the University of Hong Kong, the 2016 Tokyo High School Friendship Games in Tokyo, Japan, the 2016 Greater China Cup in Shanghai, China, and the 2016 FIL U19 Men’s World Lacrosse Championship in Coquitlam, B.C., Canada. Lin is working to provide Taiwanese youth guaranteed college admission through lacrosse and to develop them for future lacrosse coaching and administrative careers in Taiwan and with the TWLA. She envisions the TWLA as being a breeding ground to cultivate the youth of Taiwan further and to teach them the fundamental lacrosse skills of discipline, determination, teamwork and perseverance. Most importantly, she hopes to teach them that sharing lacrosse knowledge and experience is an excellent way to give back to the community.

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For more information contact: Tom Hayes at t.hayes@worldlacrosse.sport